


Of Value

by Rhapsody the Bard (Rhapsody)



Category: The Tudors
Genre: F/M, Ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-03
Updated: 2013-01-03
Packaged: 2017-11-23 12:46:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/622290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhapsody/pseuds/Rhapsody%20the%20Bard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry VIII looks back on his failed marriage to Anne of Cleves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Value

**Author's Note:**

> Written for lilachigh, on the occasion of the Great Tales December Drabble Exchange 2012

I should have kept you. Yet I did not. Spoiled by the wealth and riches that has been in my life so far, I failed to see you for you are today: a rare beauty who has welcomed me today with warmth and hospitality that I should have seen then and could not. Why was it that the French ambassador’s words made me reconsider, that it was you who brought humanity to my court and realm when it was needed so?

Time can be a patient healer. It was too soon, too soon to embrace love and joy after such sorrow and pain. Jane’s death made me feel vulnerable, that place of belonging in love robbed from me for the sacrifice of life.

I strengthened my back for those to see and walled my heart for myself alone. You must understand: I simply did not wish to revisit those dark places. You tried to bring light in my life, fought to appease me and wished to stand beside me during those troubled days as steadfast as you could. Why did you have keep that ring all along only to ask of me to have it destroyed as a thing of no value?

Of no value? I hope - while I hold you in my arms - that I can let go of the loss of that what once was. I will remember this night of our journey together as the one where we discovered the potential power of our light.

**Author's Note:**

> In the Tudors episode 4.03 “Something for You” Anne of Cleves asks Henry to destroy their wedding ring since it has become a ‘thing of no value’. In the episode you can see how this touches Henry and this piece of work is intended to explore that moment later in the episode when he holds her in his arms.


End file.
